university of new england

A Data System for Reporting, Trending and Analysis

A project designed  to evolve over time, provide additional data services, and to be used by a growing number of users. 

Challenge

A university in New England has a large campus with many buildings, research facilities, and activity centers. The university facilities group needed a data system to aggregate utility and HVAC data from multiple control systems into a common time-series historian database for data reporting, trending, and data analytics. The OSIsoft PI System was chosen. 

Solution

The university asked Hallam-ICS to design and install the system; configure the system components; and develop reports, calculations, and visualizations needed to obtain useful information for the system. This is a long-term project that is designed  to evolve over time, provide additional data services, and to be used by a growing number of users.

The project required the following expertise:

  • System design and installation
  • OSIsoft software installation and configuration
  • PI Asset Framework (AF) programming
  • PI ProcessBook and DataLink VBA programming
  • Excel VBA programming for reports
  • PI Vision programming for screens
  • Understanding the field measurements to find and resolve issues with invalid and suspect data.

The Historian system was required to:

  • Interface with multiple systems to obtain data from Modbus devices, Honeywell OPC Server, Delta-V PI, and a Johnson Controls BACnet system.
  • Perform complex calculations and totalization for energy usage reports.
  • Use custom reports in Excel for reports on electricity, chilled water, and stream usage.
  • Trend point data using PI ProcessBook, with a system hierarchy defined in an MS Access database.
  • Organize assets and attributes in PI AF for easy drill-down retrieval of data.
  • Display real-time screens and trends in PI Vision.

The project required the use of the following PI System modules and skills:

  • Install and configure the PI Data Archive, PI Inter- faces, PI security, and PI Vision web application.
  • Create a tag database and system hierarchy database.
  • PI AF development for configuring system assets, attributes, and analysis.
  • Develop VBA applications using PI ProcessBook and DataLink in Excel.
  • Install, test, and backup Microsoft SQL Server.

Results

Our team accomplished the following:

  • Enhanced Data Integration and Reporting: Successfully designed and implemented the OSIsoft PI System, enabling seamless aggregation of utility and HVAC data from diverse control systems. This included configuring complex interfaces and custom reports for energy usage, streamlining data analysis and reporting processes.
  • Improved Data Accessibility and Visualization: Developed a robust PI Asset Framework (AF) to organize system assets and attributes, enabling intuitive drill-down access to real-time and historical data. Implemented PI Vision dashboards and trend screens, enhancing user interaction and decision-making capabilities.
  • Optimized System Reliability and Scalability: Addressed data integrity issues by validating field measurements and resolving invalid data. Established a scalable system architecture designed for long-term evolution, supporting an increasing number of users and expanding data services.